Artist statement:

Courage to Detour and Patience to Wait was recorded live at Worlds Only’s debut performance on 30 January 2024 at Sydney performing arts institution, Phoenix Central Park. A new group initially formed for the two-concert event, the album represents the only time that Worlds Only will perform CTDAPTW.

Minor edits were made to the recording of the 2nd performance to remove the hallmarks and aesthetics of the live album format such as audience chatter and response, leaving a document of a moment that is immersive in the recorded listening environment. 

If you would like to spend money on this release, send a paypal transfer to alisterhill@gmail.com

Bio:

Named after Megan Alice Clune’s short-lived yet seminal zine World’s Only that explored the intersection of classical music, experimental subgenres, and the indie ethos, Worlds Only is Alister Hill (guitar), Darren Lesaguis (spoken word), Jenny Trinh AKA Wytchings (electronics/vocals), Justin Tam AKA Tzekin (saxophone), Reginald Harris (bass) and Thomas William Smith AKA T. Morimoto (electronics). The sextet explores intertwining instrumentation, internal worlds, and the distortion of time, a collaborative practice focused on site-specific musical works that only exists in the liminal space that happens with live improvisation. 

Drawing from four decades of experience and their respective practices – from performing at major institutions like the ICA London, Sydney Opera House and the Red Rattler, creating influential labels and collectives (Eternal Dragonz, Sumac, Serial Space) and collaborating across the full spectrum of music spanning trance to drill and slowcore rock, Worlds Only is a shape-shifting entity based in Sydney and London that embraces a collectivist philosophy where each lineup is fluid, and studio recordings are foregone in favour of live documentation that captures totemic musical moments, that are personal, incendiary and completely of the moment.

Lyrics

1 Small Stones

😶

2 Bingo 

I saw it in the mirror 

It was cool to see how much you changed after coming back 

Did you sweat from a new part of your body?

Did the hair on your head change colour?

Was there heat where before there was nothing?

Did your brow grow thicker?

There’s so much of the physiological self that belies something internally untouchable 

Something there and not there at the same time 

Existence only when we conceive it 

The brief lifespan of fire 

You said you saw angel numbers in everything 

I thought that was a joke

Yeah until the microwave stopped at 3 minutes and 33 seconds by itself

The brief lifespan of fire 

Playing bingo with my aunties, and running out of counters for our cards

Instead using small stones

coffee beans

frangipani petals

sunflower seeds

beer can tabs

finger nails

shredded leaves

Freedom is the courage to detour and patience to wait

3 I’m a Taurus and The Bull Charges in Binary Code 

A freeze frame 

Grey static, a slow wash of pixels 

Suspended like you lost your way mid conversation 

Hot to the touch, a hair strand of electricity drawing static to your life force 

Holding weight in the cornea of your eyes, like you’re out of body 

There’s really nothing in between 

The screen and what it captures, 

Except almost everything 

Monochrome monitor, blue and black 

An astrology chart written with 8 bit

I’m a taurus and the bull charges in binary code

4 What Makes a Mirror?  

When you looked in the mirror, what words were written?

Etched into the seeing glass with a tiny fire

Did you breathe in those flecks of mirror?

Did they turn your insides silver?

What even makes a mirror? 

Is it steel? 

Is it tin? 

Is it aluminium? 

Is it mercury? 

Is it mercury? 

I like that at one point they were wet 

When spots of rain on the ground evaporate, do they leave behind tiny mirrors? 

Moments of the sky captured on the earth underfoot 

I wanna smash them in to even tinier pieces

5 Mercury 

I saw it in the mirror 

I saw you in the mirror 

I saw ghosts in the mirror

I saw the figure eight in the mirror

I saw the horizon in the mirror

I saw fishing line in the mirror

I saw you in the mirror 

I saw the space between perception and reality 

Neither actually you but also more you than a photograph 

When we look at someone in the mirror, do we see our idea of them or theirs of themselves? 

Visibility is a trap 

When you looked in the mirror, what words were written?

Etched into the seeing glass with a tiny fire

You breathed in the flecks of mirror

Did they turn your insides silver?

What even makes a mirror? 

Is it steel? 

Is it tin? 

Is it aluminium? 

What even makes a mirror?

Is it steel?

Is it tin?

Is it aluminium?

What even makes a mirror?

Is it steel?

Is it tin?

Is it aluminium?

What even makes a mirror?

Is it steel?

Is it tin?

Is it aluminium?

Is it mercury?

Is it mercury? 

Is it mercury? 

Is it mercury?

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Is It mercury?

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Is it mercury?

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Is it mercury?

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